A novel active sun tracking controller for photovoltaic panels

Abstract

This study presents a novel electromechanical controller that tracks the sun direction in order to maximize the solar system output and therefore reduces the cost of the KWh produced by PV systems. The electrical part of this controller consists of a stepper motor driven by a PIC and motor driving circuit. This controller is based on an open loop tracking algorithm that depends on a mathematical module to calculate the optimum tilt angle at which the installed collector should be slanted to collect the maximum radiation. A gear system has been attached to the stepper motor shaft to step up the motor torque in order to move the collector along the desired direction. Malaysia, a tropical country, which usually faces a lot of cloudy days has been considered as the case study. A MATLAB simulation has been developed and a PIC positioning controller has been implemented to compare the real sun angle with the proposed controller in order to estimate the system feasibility. © 2009 Asian Network for Scientific Information.